2018 Finger Paintings!

[Chad Weatherford]

I really like the effects going on in the Mar 25th painting.

Upon closer inspection (F11, full-screen mode) it appears you may be using multiple layers then you may be messing with the opacity of each layer? Some of the brush strokes seem to be sitting on top of the previous layer, and so on and the opacity usage allows the brush strokes from below to come through?

I also noticed those two tree hole where you used an eraser to make it instead of using paint. You do not notice them unless you look at the image closely. Then I was able to see the multiple layers going on. Brilliant! That makes sense since you are so proficient at using PS.

I try not to mess with the opacity of a layer unless it is a global adjustment to whatever is underneath (light blooms, color tints, etc.) but I see what you are talking about. It may have been an accident rather than a technique. Sometimes I'll grab the watercolour brush by mistake, but there seems to be some pen tool with dropped opacity so not sure how it happened...it was pretty feverish on that sketch.

I think for this one I had 4 layers to start with, the underpainting (an imported image of a completed painting, ...I think by CW Mundy), a quick and nasty sketch layer, the fg with the trees, and the bg. I started thumbnail size and got the blockin then sized it up. The trees were scrubbed in pretty quick and I did erase some holes! I created a temp layer for some clouds above the bg, locked the layer and painted within the shapes before flattening down.

[Chad Weatherford]

Quick question Chad: How many layers, on average, would you say you usually use in your paintings? One for each major object?

yea, typically one for each major object. Eventually I flatten the layers to finish. Sometimes I get carried away with little experiments that I keep in the layer stack (color adjustments, added objects, etc) until l it bogs the file down, then I'll dump a bunch that I either am not using or merge the ones I'm satisfied with.

[Chad Weatherford]

Used some Photoshop for some big brush passages after the initial ArtRage sketch on this. Also there was a Bonsai tree I chopped down using digital paint as well. It was actually the dominant part of the composition at one stage, but I wasn't feeling the composition. Another painting that was the product of weekly still life sketches with the design team at work.

[HwyStar]

Thanks for the tips Chad! All great ideas and concepts that I should learn to apply to my paintings. One day at a time huh?

I had not seen CW Mundy's work before. He is a great artist too!

[Chad Weatherford]

Thanks for the tips Chad! All great ideas and concepts that I should learn to apply to my paintings. One day at a time huh?

I had not seen CW Mundy's work before. He is a great artist too!

Any time! Yea CW Mundy...great sculptural use of paint strokes.

[Chad Weatherford]

View outside a hotel window in downtown Vancouver a couple years ago.

[Chad Weatherford]

Quick and messy commuter sketch.

[D Akey]

Cool. Still loving the calligraphy if that's the best term to use to describe your marks. Your "messy" could well be anyone else's "finesse-y". It's deceptive how that kind of thing could go flying off the rails for someone not warmed to it where they have to think each and every mark through. I recall in the past trying to copy loose techniques and the original artist probably gave a mark little thought and it was just an expedient way to place some color and value. But for me, I had to be very careful and precise to match that loose look.

In learning guitar there were teachers online who said that copying a recorded piece from a famous musician was very difficult because that's generally not how the original artist did it. And that part of the trick was knowing the scales and certain licks, but it was getting in there and feeling it one's self -- getting into the feel of it, which then opens the door to letting one's own artist out of the box.

Anyway, very cool, looking at your work you put up.

[Chad Weatherford]

Cool. Still loving the calligraphy if that's the best term to use to describe your marks. Your "messy" could well be anyone else's "finesse-y". It's deceptive how that kind of thing could go flying off the rails for someone not warmed to it where they have to think each and every mark through. I recall in the past trying to copy loose techniques and the original artist probably gave a mark little thought and it was just an expedient way to place some color and value. But for me, I had to be very careful and precise to match that loose look.

In learning guitar there were teachers online who said that copying a recorded piece from a famous musician was very difficult because that's generally not how the original artist did it. And that part of the trick was knowing the scales and certain licks, but it was getting in there and feeling it one's self -- getting into the feel of it, which then opens the door to letting one's own artist out of the box.

Anyway, very cool, looking at your work you put up.

Some marks are more deliberate than others, but definitely there is a bit of slap and dash approach...sometimes I have to finish them pretty quick on a bus. There have been a few instances where I get overly absorbed in a painting and miss a stop though. All in all, the messier ones retrospectively look a bit clumsy to me at times I feel like they might translate better with traditional materials rather than digital. As always I appreciate your kind observations...they usually have the effect of making me appreciate my sketches in a new light. Thank you!

[Chad Weatherford]

Sorry to drop off the earth with these. Time has been challenging...I'm behind on the year but have been updating Instagram more regularly. I'll try to catch up!